No Staring
by Glitchek
Summary: A story i had to write for tutoring, "write a sad story about a mythical creature." I hope this is ok! [[Mermaid!England/Human!Canada]]


**Title:** No Staring  
**Characters/Pairings:** Aph England (Mermaid!Arthur), Aph Canada (Human). EngCan/MapleTea  
**Warnings:** None  
**a.n:** Lines = time skip  
i havent written anything in a while and i rushed this for school so im sorry if it isnt any good;;

* * *

The world wasn't what it seemed to be anymore. Time had gone by too quickly, people passing by, gazing in awe until they got bored and left to go to the gift shop or a bar. At first, people were astounded and shocked, some people seemed extremely happy that they had managed to catch a real life mermaid, something you would only read about in books. People would always stand around the tank, watching and staring at Arthur.

Arthur didn't like being stared at, though.

* * *

Arthur could pick multiple things that bothered him about humans but the one thing that he despised the most was that they stared too much, despite being told its rude. The people who looked after Arthur noticed that he disliked the staring and at first, just told him it was normal, and people were just surprised and happy to see him! But after a while, they noticed how it put such a damper on things, Arthur would no longer communicate or do anything because of the staring. So they put up a sign, a simple sign, that read "No Staring."

Years and years went by, Arthur had grown accustomed to the tank, but it never quite felt like home. Sometimes, he felt sick and uneasy thinking about home, the fact that he had been taken so suddenly from where he had grown up, and had been taken away from people he had loved jarred him and made him feel sick to the stomach.

Sometimes people would come in, asking to see Arthur, the people who owned Arthur would look at the merman as if asking for his permission. Arthur always said no. He knew who those people were, he knew they were the people his people told stories about. The people who came and took you from your homes, caught you up, tangled in nets and hung you out to dry. They would test on you, open you up and spill your insides without a single ounce of remorse.

Sometimes they would get mad, pounding on the glass, shouting at how the owners had no right to keep them from testing on Arthur to find out who he really was. The owners disagreed. It was his choice since he was a sentiment being after all.

Why not let him go then?

* * *

Some days, Arthur would just lie around the tank, some days he would re-arrange everything in his tank. But nearly everything left over time, the plants, the rocks, the lights. He disliked them all and would scowl at the people who tried to put more into his tank, so eventually, they just took most of it out. They left a few things, a large bathing rock, a huge fern and some smaller plants Arthur had taken a likeness too.

With the tank being practically empty, Arthur noticed a few things. He began to realise how humiliating it was to be fed fish food. How embarrassing it was to look up early in the morning to see someone above your tank, shaking a little pot of fish flakes into your tank. How horribly embarrassing it was. Thank god no one was around to see it. No one he knew, at least.

The other fish didn't seem to mind though. The fish in the tanks opposite him would just eat it all up in a matter of moments and then go back to swimming aimlessly around the tank. He wondered if it was boring for them, to have no actual sense of purpose, just to be an attraction for people.

He thought about these things late at night when the workers had gone home and he could sit up against the front-wall of the tank so he could look out at all the other fish. There were long, scary looking fish, tiny fish, and brightly coloured fish too. Arthur always wondered if maybe one day he could go talk to them. He could breathe human air after all, so would that be so bad?

* * *

Time started to go by far too quickly again, people passing by, but this time it seemed like they didn't care. Who needs them anyway, Arthur didn't need them to know he was an amazing find for the human world. But Arthur noticed how one day, seemingly out of no where, there was a large plaque in front of his tank. He swum out to see it, his hands pressed up against the tank to try and look over, to see what was written on it. Just as he had tried though, someone had walked down to where he was, watching Arthur push himself against the glass to try and get a better look.

The merman was startled to say the least. He jolted back, bubbles of air erupting from his mouth as he gasped in shock, his heart racing for the first time in years. He pushed himself back and away from the front of the tank, his eyes wide and his blonde hair covering most of his vision. Without another second to go by, Arthur rushed and swam behind his bathing rock, back pressed up against it, and his chest heaving to try and calm himself down.

As though not seeing Arthur's distress, the person just stared at him, then looked down at the plaque. As the other looked at the plaque for a few moments, Arthur had time to think. This was the first person he had seen in a while but the uneasiness he had gotten from the stare (and the shock of someone coming out of no where) had gotten to him and left an ill feeling in his stomach. But nevertheless, he didn't seem to mind him. The kid obviously meant no harm. Looking out from the rock he had hidden behind, he watched the boy and studied him.

He was tall, or at least for a human, he had blue eyes (a beautiful purple shade in these lights) and short, wavy, blonde hair that fell halfway down his neck. Adorning his face were a round pair of glasses. They looked an awful lot like the pair's Arthur would find in sunken ships.

The boy looked rather lanky, as if he hadn't been eating well or looking after himself. But that didn't seem to matter as there was a soft smile on his face as he looked at Arthur. Not stared, no, just looked at.

The boy struggled for a few moments as he attempted to turn the plaque around, Arthur peering around from a large rock. But those few moments of struggle worked apparently as he heard a large squeak as the plaque turned around and was now facing the tank. Arthur couldn't help but stare. A few moments went by, Arthur's heart was racing still but he was curious. Swimming out carefully, chest close to the floor of the tank, he swam out to the window. Pressing a hand against the glass, he read the plaque.

_Arthur  
Age - Unknown  
Gender - Unknown but presumed to be male  
Appearance: Short blonde hair, Green eyes, small green scales covering tail and parts of his shoulders.  
Personality: Inactive, dislikes people, likes plants, dislike of American spelling. Dislikes adults but does not seem to mind children.  
First Merman to ever be caught.  
**[No Staring]**_

Arthur didn't know what to feel when he read that. He felt rather empty to say the least, he didnt feel like it hadn't affected him but it wasn't like he was upset. He just expected a little.. More. While looking he hadn't noticed the boy staring at him again, too lost in re-reading the plaque over and over.

It wasn't until he saw the human boy breathe onto the glass, fogging it up, that he was interested. Pushing himself over to the other, he watched. The human was breathing on the glass, rather odd, Arthur thought, do all humans do that? But then the boy started to write backwards into the fog.

"Im Matthew Williams. Hello!"

For the first time in quite a while, a human had spoken to him. Well, not "spoken" but had written to him, and that was enough. Arthur couldn't really help it, a large smile had broken out on his face, going to write on the glass but finding out that he couldn't. A moment of struggle went by as he tried to breathe on the glass like the other had done but it just wouldn't work.

"Do you speak?"

The boy's- Matthew's voice came, muffled, through the glass. Arthur hadn't spoken since he was kidnapped. He didn't speak at first, only out of spite, but then grew used to not saying a single word. Nodding quickly, the human smiled.

"Great! Lets get to know each other then!"

* * *

Time had gone by once again and Matthew had gotten older. Arthur thought, spitefully, how dare he go out and leave Arthur by himself, how dare he grow older without saying anything first. Arthur stopped talking again and began to hide himself away, Matthew didn't like to see the merman like this, but he couldn't do anything to stop it. So he just kept watching Arthur, coming back day after day to find him behind his rock refusing to speak to him.

Over time it seemed as though Arthur had grown sour again. Matthew had managed to soften him a bit, even managing to get Arthur to smile when he appeared again. But once the human started to be low on money, he couldn't keep going back to the aquarium to just say hi, he needed that money for other things. The time Matthew had left behind caused Arthur to become upset again, he didn't want to see anyone but the one human he actually liked.

* * *

Matthew did come back, but this time he was a lot older and had someone with him. A small child. The child was only about nine, but even so, Arthur did not want to see the child, he wanted to see Matthew. Completely ignoring the child, Arthur swam up to the tank and pressed himself against it, eyes wide and full of sorrow. Matthew breathed lightly on the tank, one hand holding the child's, the other coming up to write in the fog.

"Im sorry."

Arthur felt his heart clench, he couldn't take this. He didn't want this again. Swimming away without haste, he hid behind his rock and cried for what felt like the first time in years.

* * *

Years passed again and the child came back. Without Matthew. They were older and looked far different, but far too familiar for Arthur's tastes. They stayed for too long, they had been watching the other fish for a while until their eyes came to find Arthur.

The child wouldn't look away, they just kept staring, looking around Arthur's big, empty tank. Then back at him. To the child, Arthur looked lonely, he had no one else in his tank and the tank was empty, what was there for him to do? They kept watching Arthur and even after they left, he would come back with his family (_Without Matthew_) half a year later, staring at Arthur once again. They would do that over and over, they would leave and come back, looking older but not any happier, seeming to dislike how small the tank looked. They couldn't do anything, though, so they just stared in hopes of getting Arthur's attention.

But Arthur didn't like being stared at.


End file.
